Client: Niebling Auto Body
Project: Wall Mural
Roles: Creative Director, Painter
Creative Challenge:
Design, paint and install a 45′ x 10′ mural
Niebling Auto Body (yes, we’re related) was founded in 1892 as a builder of buggies and wagons with an in-house repair shop. Through the decades, the business adapted to the ever-changing technologies. Transitioning from horse-drawn vehicles, they started building truck bodies for Pevely Dairy, the St. Louis Post Dispatch and other notable St. Louis companies.
Since 1986, this is the third mural I’ve designed and painted for Niebling Auto Body — each one incorporating the historic nature of the business. The buggies, cars, trucks and architectural references were all taken from old photographs I gathered from the family.
This mural was first hand-painted over two months in 1998. By 2025 it was in serious need of repair or replacement. The new owner of the shop wanted to keep the same mural. Luckily, I had painted the mural at the dawn of digital photography and had taken high-resolution (for the time) digital photos of the nearly-finished panels before installation. Using those 30-year-old image files, I cleaned them up and digitally painted in the elements I had painted post-installation. (Thank you, Wacom tablet!)
The new vinyl print has brought new life to the street corner!
